Zappos Data Breach Settlement To Provide 10% Discounts

A recently proposed settlement would provide a 10 percent discount to the 24 million consumers affected by a 2012 Zappos data breach.

The settlement would benefit consumers who had a Zappos.com account before hackers accessed the retailer’s system on Jan. 15, 2012 and for whom Zappos had an email address in their records at the time of the data breach.

“As experienced data breach class action attorneys, proposed co-lead settlement class counsel recognize that establishing classwide liability in a data breach case is generally an uphill battle,” the Zappos class action plaintiffs wrote in their motion for preliminary approval. “They also recognize the difficulties in achieving a result better than that provided by the settlement.”

Under the Zappos class action settlement, Class Members would be provided with a one time 10 percent discount code. This code could be used on a purchase of multiple items or could be transferred to someone else via gift or sale.

There isn’t a dollar limit that the code could be applied to, but the discount cannot be used for gift cards, previous purchases, or taxes and shipping fees.

If the Zappos class action settlement is approved by the court, Class Members will have until 60 days after code distribution or until the end of the day on Dec. 31, 2019 to redeem the discount codes.

If consumers are hospitalized, seriously ill, or are deployed on military service, they can submit “reasonable proof” that they were unable to use the code and will be given a replacement code.

“Continued proceedings necessary to litigate this matter to final judgment would likely include additional discovery and depositions, briefing on class certification, pretrial motions, a trial, post-trial motion practice, judgment, and potential appeals,” the plaintiffs argue.

“The settlement, in contrast, delivers a real, timely, and substantial remedy to settlement class members without the risks and delay inherent in further litigation.”

In October 2012, the shoe retailer lost their bid to compel arbitration in the Zappos data breach class action lawsuits. The federal court determined that the retailer’s arbitration clauses in their user agreements were too obscure and deceptive.

Since then, the issue has been heavily litigated. In 2013, a dismissal request was denied, but a federal judge later reversed that decision after finding that consumers were not at a risk for identity theft.

Plaintiffs appealed this decision in the Ninth Circuit and, in March 2018, a panel took their side when they agreed that consumers were at risk for fraud. Zappos petitioned for a rehearing but the Ninth Circuit refused the request.

Shortly after, both parties entered into settlement negotiations and reached their deal.

Were you affected by the Zappos data breach? What do you think of the proposed settlement? Let us know in the comment section below.

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

The plaintiffs in the Zappos class action are represented by Ben Barnow of Barnow and Associates PC, Jeremiah Frei-Pearson of Finkelstein Blankinship Frei-Pearson & Garber LLP, Richard L. Coffman of The Coffman Law Firm, Marc L. Godino of Glancy Prongay & Murray LLP, David C. O’Mara of the O’Mara Law Firm, and Timothy G. Blood of Blood Hurst & O’Reardon LLP.

The Zappos Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Zappos.com Inc. Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, Case No. 3:12-cv-00325, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

UPDATE: October 2019, the Zappos data breach class action settlement is now open. Click here for more information.

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